Mitt on Meet: No tax cuts for rich

Mitt Romney insisted he wouldn’t cut taxes on the rich and pushed back strongly on the idea that he isn’t empathetic to the struggles of everyday Americans in a tough economy in a rare Sunday morning interview.

“We care very deeply about this country. Those people who try to minimize the feeling and the connection we have with the American people really miss the mark,” Romney said, with his wife, Ann, by his side on his campaign bus, giving his first interview to NBC’s “Meet the Press” since 2009.

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In one of the GOP nominee’s most detailed recent interviews, Romney talked tax cuts, balancing the budget, the auto bailout, Medicare and foreign policy.

But even when pressed, the Republican presidential nominee provided few new details about his own policy proposals. Romney has avoided the Sunday morning talk circuit and has appeared on the shows only a handful of times during his 2012 run for president. Sunday’s interview was taped Friday and Saturday.

Coming on the heels of the Democratic convention, Romney was at pains to stress that, if elected, he doesn’t intend to cut taxes on wealthy Americans — though he would close some loopholes in the Tax Code that they now use — and that he wouldn’t raise taxes on middle-income voters.

“I’m not going to increase the tax burden on middle-income families,” Romney said. “It would absolutely be wrong to do that.”

But asked by NBC’s David Gregory to name a loophole in the Tax Code that he would close for high-income taxpayers, Romney didn’t provide an example.

“Well, I can tell you that people at the high end, high-income taxpayers, are going to have fewer deductions and exemptions,” Romney said. “Those numbers are going to come down. Otherwise, they’d get a tax break. And I want to make sure people understand, despite what the Democrats said at their convention, I am not reducing taxes on high-income taxpayers.”